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February 20, 2011
WOLF CREEK HERITAGE MUSEUM NOTES by Virginia Scott MUSEUM NOTES Weather was warm and dry so most of us came for our Wednesday work session and were doing great until our attention was distracted by grassfires on both sides of us. We spent the afternoon watching the smoke and hoping that our county land, cattle, and most of all our firefighters would be safe. Damage was kept to grass and cattle which was regretful. WE THANK EVERYONE WHO WORKED TO PUT THE FIRES OUT. Photos will be added to our weather file. We are presently working on a grant award for our photographs. This grant allowed us to purchase appropriate storage supplies for our photos. Now we have to reprocess all our photographs into these storage boxes,etc. This requires many hours of work and will take us at least 6 to 12 months. If you come in and see us with photographs everywhere with boxes, you will know we are in the midst of another project. We sometimes wonder when we are going to take a break. We have new look to the gift shop, so come by and see what's new. HISTORY TIDBITS In cleaning out their Obits, Lovella gave me an obit about one of our early cowboys, Commodore Hopper. Commodore was a early day cowboy in Lipscomb County, He was born Oct. 27, 1880 in Iowa. He attended schools in Beaver city in 1886. Schools in Cimarron Territory of Which Beaver City was the capital were supported by local subscription. Hopper’s father helped residents at Canadian erect the first bridge to span the Canadian River. Later he moved his family to Lipscomb. Commodore owned ranch land near Higgins and lived at the Higgins Hotel for many years. He never married. He died at age 79 in 1960 and is buried in Lipscomb cemetery. We also found an article from 1922 about a Boiler Explosion. The Boiler on a Red Martin steam tractor blew up and severely scalded two men, Ernest Griswold and Fred Nickson. The men were rushed to Dr. Markley office and Dr. Newman from Shattuck was also called to treat them. Mr. Griswold also received a broken leg. After initial treatment, Fred Nickson was moved to the Higgins Hotel and later to his home. Mr. Griswold died later that night. This week in history the following happened: On February 19, 1838, Indians captive Rachel Plummer was reunited with her husband after spending a year with Comanches. In May 1836 her settlement was attacked by a large group of Indians. Five settlers were taken captive: Rachel and her son James Pratt Plummer, Cynthia Ann and John Parker, and Mrs. Elizabeth Kellogg. Her son James Pratt was taken from her and she never saw him again. She was a slave to the Comanche and traveled thousands of miles with the band. She was pregnant at the time of her capture and bore a second son about, the Indians thought that the baby was interfering with her work, so they killed him when he was about six weeks old. Rachel was ransomed by Mexican traders north of Santa Fe in June, 1837. Several months later, Rachel’s brother-in-law escorted her back to Texas, where she was reunited with her husband. In 1838 she published an account of her captivity entitled Rachael Plummer’s Narrative of Twenty One Months Servitude as a Prisoner among the Commanchee Indians. (The spelling of Commanchee is the spelling Rachael used). This was the first narrative about a captive of Texas Indians published in Texas. Rachael bore a third child in 1839 and died in Houston shortly thereafter; the child died two days later. |
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